Low rank adaptive signal processing for radar applications

This paper addresses the problem of radar target detection in heterogeneous clutter environments. We present the performance of the low rank normalized matched filter (LRNMF) test and the low rank normalized adaptive matched filter (LRNAMF) in a background of disturbance consisting of clutter having a covariance matrix with known structure and unknown scaling plus background white Gaussian noise with unknown variance. It is shown that the LRNMF test retains invariance with respect to the unknown scaling as well as the background noise level and is approximately CFAR. Analytical expressions for calculating the false alarm and detection probabilities are presented. Performance analysis of the LRNAMF test using simulated data from the KASSPER program is presented. Issues of sample support for subspace estimation, constant false alarm rate (CFAR) and detection performance are presented.